The Fairfield Horseshoe

Date: 16-Jan-2012

Map: Landranger 90

Weather: Sunny above a weak inversion, with a bit of mist on top

From the road next to Rydal Mount church
up to Nab Scar, Heron Pike, Great Rigg and Fairfield. Return
down the other half of the horseshoe to Hart Crag, Dove
Crag, High Pike, Low Pike, and down to Ambleside :
about 8.7 miles as measured on memory map.

Many moons ago I walked the Fairfield horseshoe from Rydal Mount.
In the old days I was fast and wore denims! Nowadays I’m
pretty sedate and wear proper gear. January has been a good month for walks and
I’ve managed a few up in the lakes, one in Wales and one in
Derbyshire. Needless to say I am way behind in all things blogging, but I’ll try to get up to date in the next couple
of weeks. The horseshoe must be one of the most iconic walks in the
Lake District and one that is very busy at weekends, a real
tourist trail. Luckily it was a Monday and I didn’t see too
many out and about, and they would have passed me by anyway
– yet another plodding walk from me. The usual start point
is at Rydal, a stones throw from both Grasmere and Ambleside
– well a taxi ride away. There is good parking adjacent to
the church at Rydal Mount, and all they ask is £1 in the
honesty box at the gate.

The crux of a successful circuit is of course navigating
correctly across the wide summit of Fairfield, which is
easier said than done on a misty day – quite often then.
Which is why I had this conversation today on the hause
between Fairfield and Hart Crag … the elderly gent at the
top who was walking down the wrong way.

He said to me – ‘do you know where you are?’

Me – ‘yes I do. Are you OK?’

Him – ‘I want to get to Great Rigg’

I looked at the map he was holding and turned it around
180deg. ‘That might help’ I say and pointed out Great Rigg
on the other side of the valley…luckily for him he hadn’t
come too far down from Fairfield.

He looked relieved as he could have ended up miles away
from his intended destination. I bet the taxi drivers around
here can tell a tale or two. There are 7 or 8 different
routes up to and from Fairfield – you could approach from
Rydal or Stone Arthur (Grasmere) or Grizedale Tarn (paths
from Grasmere side or Patterdale) or St Sunday Crag or
Hartsop above How (via Hart Crag) or Dovedale…so plenty of
scope to go slightly awry.

But on days like today it would have been hard work to
get misplaced even if it was a little misty up on top. I
chose to walk clockwise, steeply up Nab Scar and onwards to
Heron Pike. Behind me it was increasingly hazy, but as I got
higher up the fells a weak inversion could be seen, with
bright blue sky up above. A full inversion never developed
but several banks of cloud drifted in allowing some pictures
of peaks peeking through – and that’s always a great
pleasure to see.

On from Heron Pike it was a long steady climb up to Great
Rigg, and then on to the top. While I was struggling up the
long ascent, a low rumbling behind me proved to be a
Hercules low in the valley passing the ‘Lion and The Lamb’
at Helm Crag – no chance of a picture though.

The big positive about the horseshoe are the extensive
views all the way around, and there’s a lorra, lorra fells
you can see – too many to list here. Once you’ve attained
the top it’s simply a case of picking the correct way around
to the return leg on the other side of the valley. That is
relatively easy in good visibility, and I soon walked over
two more wainwrights in Hart Crag and Dove Crag, with great
views again , this side looking at the Helvellyn range and
some of the Eastern Fells of High Street et al. The route
down is steady with a few steep pitches after High Pike,
with an unavoidable drop down a scrambly piece of crag. It’s
tough on the old knees with all the changes, and there a
number of boggy patches down this side – but not today as the
ground was frozen. Eventually I dropped down through a small
coppice, crossed the Scandale Beck at Low Sweden Bridge, and
ambled down into Ambleside for a well earned cuppa and a
piece of cake.

Piece of cake? Easy enough to navigate and some fantastic
views all round – not sure it’s in my top ten Lake District
walks yet, but yet another grand day out.

looking down on the valley by Rydal

On my way up Nab Scar, looking across to Low Pike

Heron Island down below on Rydal Water

Up on top looking across to Helm Crag and Loughrigg

Rydal Valley down below Lord Crag

Heron Pike ahead, with Fairfield in cloud

great views down over Grasmere

Heron Pike summit

next stop is Great Rigg

looking across by Stone Arthur the clouds are getting lower

a weak inversion was forming over Helm Crag and beyond

looking back down my route from Heron Crag, you can see the inversion

a great feeling getting up towards Great Rigg

Bowfell in the distance

Seat Sandal with Grizedale Tarn below

the last drag up to Fairfield

looking back to Great Rigg

Bowfell zoomed in

a great vista now the cloud has briefly lifted from the summit - over to Bowfell and the Crinkle Crags